The present invention relates to air or ground launched weapons and more particularly to the means for making and maintaining such weapons safe and then arming them in relation to their operating environment at a specific time during use.
In the handling of explosive ordnance it is important that steps be taken to assure that the ordnance is incapable of being armed and exploded inadvertently or accidentally under all circumstances of handling and transport prior to use as intended at a controlled point in time.
A variety of means for safing and arming such ordnance is known to those who are skilled in their use. In general, it is desirable to control all electrical, mechanical, optical or other inputs to explosive ordnance so that their individual, combined and sequenced interactions maintain the ordnance SAFE unless and until the exact criteria for and conditions precedent to obtaining the desired explosive result obtain.
One common approach to safe and arming an ordnance device employs a movable barrier between each functional component in the firing chain in order to interrupt the flow of critical firing events until the required time. A second and more commonly used scheme involves misalignment of explosive elements within the safe and arm device until the required time when proper alignment and receipt of firing and related signals must occur to create the "ARMED" device.
In addition to the factors addressed by the two above approaches to the general safe-arm problem, ordnance launch from the ground or an aircraft introduces additional factors which must be considered. Obviously, it is imperative from the standpoint of personnel, aircraft, and support or launch facility safety that ordnance or weapons remain in a "SAFE" condition under all prelaunch storage, handling, and operational circumstances. Ideally, the safe-arm device should be functionally and physically organized to eliminate the threat of unintentional arming resulting from environmental influences prior to weapon launch to a target. If for any reason the explosive elements within the safe-arm device were to explode prior to operational weapon deployment, the safe-arm device should be able to contain the explosion and prevent communication of its effects to the other charges within the safe-arm device which are precursor ignitors for the booster or warhead explosives.
It is well known to those skilled in the field of ordnance operations that use of either electrical, electronic, or mechanical means to provide timing delays necessary for safe separation and arming functions perform with varying degrees of reliability. In fact, there are pros and cons to the use of each means individually so that it has been found in the prior art that combination of these means can provide the best performance functionally and reliably.